A former FBI assistant director praised the Trump administration's approach to addressing cartels, saying that slapping them with terrorism-related charges allows officials to "go after anyone who supports" them.
Speaking to Fox News Digital, Chris Swecker, former assistant director of the bureau's Criminal Investigative Division, said the administration is taking a "dramatically different approach" to the matter, calling it "perfect for narco-traffickers."
"It also gives us some extra territorial punch, if you will. It gives us the ability, if we want to, to dip into foreign countries," Swecker added. He went on to say that the approach "ups the ante when it comes to the seriousness of the charges" as authorities can use "RICO," "continuing criminal enterprise" and other charges allowing officials to charge those affiliated and potentially send them to prison for decades.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) filed in mid-May the first-ever narco-terrorism charges against leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel—treating them not just as drug traffickers, but as terrorists.
The sweeping indictment targeted the top tier of the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO), a violent faction of the Sinaloa Cartel now accused of operating the world's most prolific fentanyl production network.
At the heart of the case are Pedro Inzunza Noriega, 62, known as "Sagitario," and his 33-year-old son Pedro Inzunza Coronel, also known as "Pichon" or "Bird." Prosecutors say the father-son duo oversaw a sprawling drug empire that trafficked tens of thousands of kilos of fentanyl into the U.S.—some of it disguised as rainbow-colored pills or stamped with Louis Vuitton and Rolls Royce logos to boost appeal and signal cartel control.
"These are not just drug traffickers," said Attorney General Pamela Bondi after the charges were filed. "They are terrorists whose product is mass death."
The scale of the cartel's operation is staggering. On December 3, 2024, Mexican law enforcement raided multiple BLO-controlled sites in Sinaloa, seizing 1,500 kilograms of fentanyl—the largest haul in recorded history, and enough to kill hundreds of millions. Days later, authorities in Mexico City seized 1,680 kilograms of cocaine linked to the same network. Packaging featured logos like "Incredibles" and "R," further highlighting how the cartel brands its drugs to reinforce territory and influence.
Less than a week later a woman became the first Mexican national to be indicted on charges of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization after allegedly committing several crimes on behalf of the Jalisco Cartel.
Concretely, Maria Del Rosario Navarro-Sanchez was accused of facilitating grenades to the cartel, recently designated by the Trump administration as a terrorist organization along with other criminal enterprises born in Latin America.
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